Will or exceed the common, or be caught
With cautelous baits and practice.
VOL.
Whither wilt thou go? Take good Cominius
With thee a while: determine on some course,
More than a wild exposture to each chance
That starts i' the way before thee.

O, the gods!

COR. COM. I'll follow thee a month, devise with thee Where thou shalt rest, that thou may'st hear of us, And we of thee: so, if the time thrust forth A cause for thy repeal, we shall not send O'er the vast world to seek a single man, And lose advantage which doth ever cool I' the absence of the needer.

COR. Fare ye well: Thou hast years upon thee; and thou art too full Of the wars' surfeits, to go rove with one That's yet unbruis'd bring me but out at gate.Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and My friends of noble touch; when I am forth,

Fortune's blows,

When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves
A noble cunning;-]

Every endeavour to elicit sense from this perplexing sentence
has failed: Pope's "being gently warded, craves," &c.; Haumer's
"being greatly warded, crave,'
," &c.; and Mr. Collier's "being
gentle-minded, craves,' &c., are alike disputable. At one time
it struck us that the right lection was possibly,-

"Fortune bows

When most struck home; being gentle, wounded, craves." &c.

SIC.

BRU.

SIC. They say she's mad.
BRU.

Keep on your way.

They have ta'en note of us:

SIC.

Are you mankind? a VOL. Ay, fool; is that a shame ?-Note but this, fool;

Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship
To banish him that struck more blows for Rome
Than thou hast spoken words?
SIC.
O, blessed heavens !.
VOL. More noble blows than ever thou wise
words;

And for Rome's good.-I'll tell thee what ;-yet go:

Nay, but thou shalt stay too :-I would my son
Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him,
His good sword in his hand.

SIC.

VIR.

What then?

What then?

ADR. You had more beard when I last saw you; but your favour is well appeared by your tongue. What's the news in Rome? I have a note from the Volscian state, to find you out there: you have well saved me a day's journey.

NIC. There hath been in Rome strange insurrections: the people against the senators, patricians, and nobles.

ADR. Hath been! is it ended then? Our state thinks not so; they are in a most warlike preparation, and hope to come upon them in the heat of their division.

Nic. The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing would make it flame again; for the nobles receive so to heart the banishment of that worthy Coriolanus, that they are in a ripe aptness to take all power from the people, and to pluck from them their tribunes for ever. This lies glowing, I can tell you, and is almost mature for the violent breaking out.

ADR. Coriolanus banished?
NIC. Banished, sir.

ADR. You will be welcome with this intelligence, Nicanor.

Nic. The day serves well for them now. I have heard it said, the fittest time to corrupt a man's wife is when she's fallen out with her husband. Your noble Tullus Aufidius will appear well in these wars, his great opposer, Coriolanus, being now in no request of his country.

ADR. He cannot choose. I am most fortunate, thus accidentally to encounter you: you have ended my business, and I will merrily accompany you home.

NIC. I shall, between this and supper, tell you

- your favour is well appeared by your tongue.] This may import, your favour is well manifested, or rendered apparent; but Johnson would read,-affeared, and Steevens and Mr. Collier's

most strange things from Rome, all tending to the good of their adversaries. Have you an army ready, say you?

ADR. A most royal one: the centurions, and their charges, distinctly billeted, already in the entertainment, and to be on foot at an hour's warning.

Nic. I am joyful to hear of their readiness, and am the man, I think, that shall set them in present action. So, sir, heartily well met, and most glad of your company.

ADR. You take my part from me, sir; I have the most cause to be glad of yours. NIC. Well, let us go together.

[Exeunt.

COR. Prepare thy brow to frown: know'st thou me yet?

AUF. I know thee not:-thy name?

COR. My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done
To thee particularly, and to all the Volsces,
Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may
My surname, Coriolanus: the painful service,
The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood
Shed for my thankless country, are requited
But with that surname; a good memory,*
And witness of the malice and displeasure [mains;
Which thou should'st bear me: only that name re-
The cruelty and envy of the people,
Permitted by our dastard nobles, who
Have all forsook me, hath devour'd the rest ;
And suffer'd me by the voice of slaves to be
Whoop'd out of Rome. Now, this extremity
Hath brought me to thy hearth; not out of hope,
Mistake me not, to save my life; for if

I had fear'd death, of all the men i' the world
I would have 'voided thee; but in mere spite,
To be full quit of those my banishers,

b

Stand I before thee here. Then if thou hast
A heart of wreak in thee, that will revenge
Thine own particular wrongs, and stop those maims
Of shame seen through thy country, speed thee
straight,

And make my misery serve thy turn; so use it,
That my revengeful services may prove

As benefits to thee; for I will fight

Against my canker'd country with the spleen
Of all the under fiends. But if so be
Thou dar'st not this, and that to prove more fortunes
Thou'rt tir'd, then, in a word, I also am
Longer to live most weary, and present
My throat to thee and to thy ancient malice;
Which not to cut would show thee but a fool,
Since I have ever follow'd thee with hate,
Drawn tuns of blood out of thy country's breast,
And cannot live but to thy shame, unless
It be to do thee service.

AUF.
O, Marcius, Marcius,
Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my
heart

A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter
Should from yond cloud speak divine things,
And say, 'Tis true; I'd not believe them more
Than thee, all-noble Marcius.(1)-Let me twine
Mine arms about that body, where against
My grained ash an hundred times hath broke,
And scar'd the moon with splinters! Here I clip
The anvil of my sword, and do contest
As hotly and as nobly with thy love,
As ever in ambitious strength I did
Contend against thy valour. Know thou first,

the opening scene of this act, where Volumnia calls Coriolanus, "my first son."